阅读理解 Over the past decade, many companies had perfected the art of creating automatic behaviors—habits—among consumers. These habits have helped companies earn billions of dollars when customers eat snacks or wipe counters almost without thinking, often in response to a carefully designed set of daily cues.
" There are fundamental public health problems, like dirty hands instead of a soap habit, that remain killers only because we can't figure out how to change people's habits, " said Dr. Curtis, the director of the Hygiene Center at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "We wanted to learn from private industry how to create new behaviors that happen automatically"
The companies that Dr. Curtis turned to—Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Unilever—had invested hundreds of millions of dollars finding the subtle cues in consumers' lives that corporations could use to introduce new routines.
If you look hard enough, you'll find that many of the products we use every day—chewing gums, skin moisturizers, disinfecting wipes, air fresheners, water purifiers, health snacks, teeth whiteners , fabric softeners, vitamins—are results of manufactured habits. A century ago, few people regularly brushed their teeth multiple times a day. Today, because of canny advertising and public health campaigns, many Americans habitually give their pearly whites a cavity-preventing scrub twice a day, often with Colgate, Crest or one of the other brands.
A few decades ago, many people didn't drink water outside of a meal. Then beverage companies started bottling the production of far-off springs, and now office workers unthinkingly sip bottled water all day long. Chewing gum, once bought primarily by adolescent boys, is now featured in commercials as a breath freshener and teeth cleanser for use after a meal. Skin moisturizers are advertised as part of morning beauty rituals, slipped in between hair brushing and putting on makeup.
" Our products succeed when they become part of daily or weekly patterns, " said Carol Berning, a consumer psychologist who recently retired from Procter & Gamble, the company that sold $76 billion of Tide, Crest and other products last year. " Creating positive habits is a huge part of improving our consumers' lives, and it's essential to making new products commercially viable. "
Through experiments and observation, social scientists like Dr. Berning have learned that there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through relentless advertising. As this new science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods.
单选题 1.According to Dr. Curtis, habits like hand washing with soap_________.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】本题考查考生根据细节信息进行推理判断的能力。文章第二段中,Curtis博士指出手弄脏了却不用肥皂清洗是公共卫生基本问题之一,如果不能找到改变人们不良习惯的方法,这类问题甚至可以致人死亡,他希望能够向私营企业界学习如何帮助人们培养自发行为习惯的方法。根据这些细节可以推断出,在Curtis博士看来,用肥皂洗手的习惯是需要培养的。选项[A]含义为洗手的习惯“应当进一步培养”,因此是本题正确答案。选项[B]的含义为“需要逐渐改变”,从文章的细节并不能做出这个推论;选项[C]所说的“在历史上就根深蒂固”同本文细节显示的事实相反;选项[D]的含义为“基本上属于个人关注的问题”,也无法根据文章细节推断出来。
单选题 2.Bottled water, chewing gum and skin moisturizers are mentioned in Paragraph 5 so as to_________.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】本题考查考生根据细节信息进行推理判断的能力。文章第五段中提到瓶装水、口香糖和润肤霜等产品过去只吸引很少的消费者或特定消费人群。如今在商业广告的推动下,这些产品已经为大多数消费者接受,成为他们生活习惯的一部分。如过去人们很少喝水,现在办公室工作人员每天大量饮用瓶装水;过去主要针对青少年男子销售的口香糖,现在被广泛作为口气清新剂;润肤霜成为早上美容步骤中必不可少的一个环节。在第六段中,Berning博士总结道,“我们的产品只有在成为消费者日常生活方式的一部分时才是成功的”。由此可以推断出,上述产品对于人们的生活已经产生了极大影响。选项[A]所说“显示这些产品对人们生活习惯的影响”是本题的正确答案。选项[B]的含义为“显示人们对于日常生活用品的迫切需求”;选项[C]的含义为“显示这些产品对于人们购买力的影响”;选项[D]的含义为“反映出好习惯的重要作用”,这三个选项显然都不是作者在第五段举例的目的。
单选题 3.which of the following does NOT belong to products that help create people's habits?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本题考查考生对文中细节信息的理解能力。文章第三段中提到,Curtis博士主要向三家公司学习经验,它们分别是Procter&Gamble、Colgate-Palmolive和Unilever,即人们熟知的宝洁、高露洁-棕榄和联合利华。在随后的第四段中提到人们刷牙常用的牙膏产品是Colgate(高露洁)、Crest (佳洁士)等,而第六段中又提到宝洁公司的洗涤产品Tide(汰渍)。综合辨析上述细节信息可知,本题答案为选项[D]“联合利华”,这是公司名称而不是产品名称。
单选题 4.From the text we know that some of consumers' habits are developed due to_________.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题考查考生根据细节信息进行推理判断的能力。文章第三段中就显示,很多公司都投入大量资金研究如何让消费者养成某些消费习惯。第四段中更指出,很多产品的流行都有赖于对消费习惯的有意培养,如一个世纪前,没有多少人每天多次刷牙,如今在精明的广告和公共卫生宣传的推动下,很多美国人每天都至少习惯性地刷牙两次。根据这些细节可以推断出广告营销是消费者养成某些消费习惯的原因,这与选项[C]要表达的有些消费习惯是“通过广告营销手段推动的”内容一致,因此选项[C]是正确答案。选项[A]“产品展现出的完美艺术性”与文章内容无关;选项[B]含义为“产生自动行为习惯”并没有解释出消费习惯形成的根本原因所在;选项[D]含义为“科学实验”,根据文章细节可知,科学实验是考察广告营销手段与消费习惯形成之间关系的方法,而不是形成消费习惯的原因。
单选题 5.the author's attitude toward the influence of advertisement on people's habits is_________.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】本题考查考生根据文中细节信息推断作者观点态度的能力。文章最后一段提到,Berning博士等学者通过实验与观察,发现力度很大的广告营销可以在某些有助于养成消费习惯的提示和消费行为之间建立很强的联系。这种作法已经引发很多争议,因为此类广告营销手段已被用于销售存在问题的美容护肤霜和不健康的食品。本题要求考生推断作者对“通过广告影响消费习惯”的作法所持的态度。四个选项的含义分别为选项[A]“漠不关心的”;选项[B]“消极、不同意的”;选项[C]“积极的”;选项[D]“存有偏见的”。很明显,选项[B]是本题的正确答案。